Saturday, I made a trip to Salzburg to do a couple of tours around the city and the surrounding area. I was able to see Mozart's birth house and the house he lived much of his adult life in, and then some beautiful little villages in the surrounding area, set in the mountains next to lakes.
I was able to get to Salzburg and back to Munich with one ticket, called a Bayern-ticket, that also allowed me to use public transportation in Salzburg, and only cost 23 Euros. Also very interesting was that I crossed the German-Austrian border twice and my passport was not checked. I'm not sure what to think of this, especially since I was travelling the day after the events in Paris, but nonetheless, it made my trip very easy and convenient. I learned a great deal about the history of Salzburg during my trip.
The best part of my trip was definitely the views I got to see.. much different than Mississippi:
This past Monday my fluids class was canceled, so I decided to take a day trip to Mittenwald, a little mountain town in the very south of Bavaria. It was about a two hour train ride with a great view the whole way. While I was there I explored the town, hiked a mountain trail, and had a dinner of Ox steak at the Mittenwald Brauhaus. Here are some pictures I took:
I've spent the last couple of weeks getting acclimated to the university system over here. It's quite different, but I like it. All the professors at my school are required to have at least 5 years of practical experience in their field, which I think is a great idea. In some of my classes I'm the only native English speaker; the German students take these classes in English to improve their job prospects internationally. Sometimes the professor will ask me how we approach a certain subject differently in the US, and it can be pretty interesting for me and the other students seeing the differences. A big difference here is the way you receive your grade. There are essentially no required assignments during the semester, so your whole grade is based on the exam at the end. This obviously has its benefits and drawbacks. I really have to take responsibility for studying, since I won't be walked through the content of the course with intermittent exams and homework assignments. I think this is certainly useful for teaching students to be accountable for their own learning, but having results rest on the weight of one test is a bit scary. Luckily, none of my classes seem overly difficult at this point, so I think I will be fine. I'd say my favorite class is Plant Engineering. Much of it applies directly to the kind of work I've done during my internships at Paper Mills. We learn about things like flow through pipes, sizing pumps, determining proper materials for design, control loops in a process, and the overall design of a process. It's a really good fluids review for me, and I've been learning a lot about material stress and wear, which we don't focus much on at MSU. It also helps to learn the international terms for everything, as these are sometimes quite different than what we use in the States. If I ever have the opportunity to work internationally, this will facilitate the transition. Another plus to University over here is the amount of money I spent on books: 3 Euros.
